Loose boards v PAR

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StevieB

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Went to SL Hardwoods in Croydon last weekend (well I had to go to Guildford so it want much of a detour :twisted: ) and picked up a couple of boards of maple and one of american black walnut. Since I dont have a P/T I bought ready prepared stock. Having just read Phillys sycamore box thread however, and seen the size and price of the unprepared board, I wondered if I was paying through the nose for prepared stock?

Doing a rough calculation from the SL Hardwoods website, it appears the difference in prepared stock is somewhere in the region of 30-40%. Is this a general rule of thumb for most timber yards, or have I bought particularly expensive stock? If its a general rule of thumb then it would make sense for me to invest in a pt asap (ie before the perform sale ends at the end of the month!). However if I have calculated wrongly, or bought particularly difficult to prepare timber species it doesnt make quite so much sense to purchase a P/T.

Since I have rarely bought hardwood before, (but plan to buy more in the future) I would be interested in views on this.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
Steve
I used to buy PAR stock, but find that bringing it into the dry, warm environment of my workshop soons starts it moving. A week later that square, flat stock is, well, not! So I usually have to pop it through the planer, losing another 3 or 4 mm.
So it usually works out cheaper to buy sawn stock, as you have to flatten it either way!
Hope this helps,
Philly :D
 
You need to consider wastage when making the comparison in prices between prepared stock and rough sawn. Depending on the type of wood, this could easily be up to 40%. Then there's the time and labour for the timber yard in doing the preparation, which has to be paid for in some way.

Generally, if you're going to be using a lot of wood (not just hardwood) then a P/T will, in the long run, pay for itself...but, don't forget the wastage!

I did think that SL Hardwood's web page gave an indication of the likely wastage on their stock?
 
Steve

Rough stock is cheaper that PAR although I'm not sure of the exact savings.

What I have found with PAR stock is that you sometimes can't get the width you want whereas there is more of a choice with rough stock.

I have only just started going over to rough stock and have to admit that I enjoy the preparing

The other thing I like about rough stock is the preparing. Can't imagine a workshop without a P/T even if you are using PAR.

Go for it you know you want one.
 
He He, I know I want one, SWMBO knows I want one, but SWMBO doesnt want one as a birthday present! Thus her present outweighs the perform sale for the moment :(

I know there is a wastage factor with rough stock, but since I generally make small items rather than large scale pieces this is never going to be as high as 40% for me. The reason for the black walnut was for the competition thats running but I am having real trouble doing what I want to do even though I bought prepared stock. Not sure if this is because I am strictly in the amateur category, whether its poorly designed or whether its because I am mixing timber and man made board or because I am not putting enough effort into getting the finish I want by hand. Whichever, I am seriously thinking of not entering the piece unless I have a much better day than yesterday in the remaining time left. :evil: I was wondering yesterday whether a PT would have been beneficial, and decided it would. Not sure how true this is (dont want to say too much about the piece in case I do enter it) but it was another reason in favour of getting one.

Thanks for your thoughts, keep them coming!

Steve.
 
With PAR you're always going to be paying for someone else's time and machine to prepare your stock, so it will always be more expensive. And on the flip side of the coin, someone is earning their living paying endless lengths of timber through jointer and thicknesser. It's not their wood. They haven't paid for it. They don't know what you have in mind to do with it. They don't think "hey, I can afford to stop shy of 18mm on this board and leave it a little thicker; that'd be nice for the top" and so forth. Preparing sawn boards yourself gives you so much more control, and can actually result in less wastage sometimes. I have two machines I consider I couldn't do without, and one of them's the P/T. FWIW. :D

Cheers, Alf
 
As any one who saw my recent postings on a SIP P/T knows I have recently bought a P/T. All I can say is I wish I had bought one sooner, apart from any cash savings the advantages of DIYS as others have said is well worth it and at £300 in their sale the Perform P/T is a bargain! (Same as the SIP except in the name)
 
Well, maybe I had a duff batch, but I've gone away from using rough softwood as the quality was so poor that it just would not plane up. Accelerated growth or whatever...I came to the conclusion that one benefit of it being PAR is that you KNOW it should be OK to work with.
 
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